Working - Marketing - Living….Time for New Paradigms?

Those who know me also know that, if I had my druthers, it would be possible to live in a freely giving and receiving society. Colin Turner describes how this could work via his book, IntoThe Open Economy: How Everything You Know About The World Is About To Change. The Kindle version is currently free on amazon. When undamaged people have their basic needs met, their natural default is to serve others. More of Colin’s work and ideals can be found in my previous post I am Home.

After a freely giving and receiving society, it would be delightful to barter. Granted, sometimes it’s more convenient to just pay for things with money. But bartering, more widely accepted, would be highly freeing for millions too. Then there is also that way of life I personally desire, living off the grid in semi-seclusion. I don’t mean passing the nights in a sleeping bag under the stars – although for some that would be heaven. Any supplies brought in would normally cost money but I’d prefer a trade or gifting exchange. If my fruit trees produced abundantly more than I could ever use, I’d want people to be able to come by and enjoy the bounty too. Not something I’d measure, “I gave this neighbor X amount of fruit, now I can ask them for some help with my pump”. Although even the latter would be better than needing money from my perspective.  To reiterate, money isn’t evil and works great in many peoples’ preference. It’s simply that there are so many for whom money doesn’t work so great. It only makes an added distraction from being able to truly savor life and live to their full potential. Masses spend the majority of their lives in jobs they wouldn’t be doing if they didn’t need money. Many don’t even have time or energy to enjoy their income. For some, it barely covers basic necessities. I personally know many who have more than one job to make ends meet totally compounding this dilemma. Some proudly wear their overworking life imbalance like a badge of honor. Overheard at the gym, “I haven’t taken time off since my youngest was born 4 and ½ years ago.” Why are Fridays celebrated and Mondays so dreaded? Of course that doesn’t even apply anymore to the countless folks who work weekends. “Weekend”, hmmmm, I wonder where that concept came from? That jubilant celebration of ending work and dreading the start actually speaks of grave dysfunctionality in the current accepted societal ways. Especially when the “working” time is most of their waking lifespan!

Fortunately, there seems to be a bit of an awakening – a realization that powerful change is not only possible but crucial to our health and well-being. From the olden days of tailors, blacksmiths, woodworkers, artists and bakers, there has been a resurgence of entrepreneurs and small businesses over the past few decades. Trading,

or bartering, is now seeing new life too from large cooperatives like International Bartering Exchange to online platforms such as Simbi. One can even find goods and services for free on craigslist, freecycle and the fledgling free giving website Freeworlder. Of course, there have always been generous people through the ages who have charitably given but not as a 2 way street – not as a way of life. Many people give freely but cannot freely receive – perhaps a topic for another day. The point, for the moment, indicates many good-hearted people are willing to give.

What kinds of value do people have to offer?
Dolphin and Whale Encounter Retreats
Life Coaching
Yield from their Garden
Intuitive Messages/Guidance
Healing Touch
Crafts/Handiwork Creations
Architect and Creative Design
Sweat Lodge Leader/Facilitator
Healthy Meal Preparation
Tiny House Builders
Personalized Travel Guide
Assistance with Off Grid Set-up
Musician/Singer/Entertainer
Apothecary
Travel Companion
As you can see, the list could go to infinity and beyond  – especially when people are encouraged to do and be what they are passionate about instead of what they can be most profitable engaging in.

I have noticed numerous individuals, with unique and valuable gifts, struggling to share their talents and make “a living” too. Some of these gifts are incredible, bordering on miraculous, and clearly something they are passionate about. What they are not passionate about, even though they may be capable, is marketing, sales and promotion - myself included. Generally, “successful” individuals and companies have already done the start-up and have a marketing department or company they pay that promotes them.

While indeed time for grand transformation, we are not going to go from the current money-based society to a free giving and receiving society overnight, if ever. But new paradigms are emerging. Visualize this: Marketing Magicians are out there who absolutely love what they do. Passionate and highly successful, they have an intuitive way of being able to connect offeror with seeker (vender with buyer) and vice versa. These Marketing Magicians look for and welcome people with a wide variety of proficiencies or they specialize in certain niches. They actively desire to be agents for these highly skilled individuals and love facilitating respectful matches. Connections are made with integrity and they get paid from the deals they broker. Now I realize there are currently marketing professionals that people pay to engage their services. Usually, it’s not someone who is out there looking for people that could benefit from a product or service because they truly believe in it; but it is simply because they are paid to represent a business. Traditionally, marketers are paid upfront, hourly or by the job.  Imagine they are just so good and believe in the value of the folks they represent, that they would operate strictly on the basis of getting paid for the connections/exchanges they generate? And I’m not talking about some of the senseless commission percentages out there but something that is truly a win-win-win (service provider, client and marketer). Now take it further. What if these Marketing Magicians would not just accept money but also trade for things they wanted or needed? The same scenario would be viable with people who like numbers, records and bookkeeping. This leaves the practitioners to create, care for, and serve in the manner they are most passionate with the resources to do so and live life!

Yes, this would be greatly complicated in the current money/tax system. Yet the current system doesn’t promote joyful, healthy living! “The System” was never set up with your health and well-being in mind! Brave change agents are needed to make this a better world for all. Radical transformers come in varied forms and affect shift in countless ways. Many are quite vocal on the streets or via social media. Some affect change simply by quietly living their own way, brilliantly shining in the process.

I can hear the arguments and concerns as people point out options already available. There is also only so much I can cover and keep this reasonably short enough for most of my readers to have the time to digest. Additionally, my challenge with human language makes it more complex for me to express this message with any kind of clarity. Heck, I wish I could get someone, who is eloquent with words and understands what I am sharing, to rewrite this whole thing! Since I have been drawn to put it out there, my reassurance is, that someone reading with an open mind and heart, with the intention of understanding and enhancing their experience, will find something of value here.

Being of service can be fun as you can see from these pictures of volunteering I "performed". Perhaps down the road I’ll share a little more about that.

Thanks to the contributions of many Earth Angels, I have had the happy opportunity to play with my shell crafts again!

If interested in this Tiny Beachy Trio, please contact me. They are $15 each or $35 for all 3 + shipping.

Sharing a dreamy gift for a friend. The The Fiery Sea Dream Catcher is available for $25 plus shipping. Please contact to order or more pics or information.

Here are a few custom pieces. Hanging ornament may be customized for a limited amount of time. Mermaid Trinket Trays are available in etsy Gifts from the Sea and Other Treasures shop now for $35 with free shipping.

Thank you for sharing your precious time with me here. Perhaps some day I’ll see you in that Paradise where it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is 💖

I AM HOME

If you’ve been reading my musings for any amount of time, you already know I don’t fit into the “average person” mold. And if you didn’t realize that already, this post will wipe away any shadow of a doubt.

Many close to me have been aware for some time now that I had been homesick. Immediately this concept would conjure up many “normal” ideas considering my unique circumstances. However, unless you know me more intimately, you wouldn’t realize the place or state I longed for was not even on this beautiful Planet. For decades of this human experience, I have caught glimpses – snippets of places I was before this lifetime. While some of those experiences were in physical places, many reflected a state of BEing….connectedness to All that Is. Often, as I noticed so many things “here” that weren’t to my particular liking, I’d long for the pure bliss of Home.

The closest physical feeling of Home in this world was back in 2005. It was my first time stepping foot on Casey Key in Florida. Suddenly I was in this vortex of energy……same place different time. I don’t know if I was a Native American living there prior or such. But, in that moment, I knew what the rest of the Key looked like even though, as my current self, I’d not been there before. There was only pristine land undiminished by houses and humans dominating great areas as today. I don’t even know what it was called then but definitely not Casey Key. It felt so comfortable, so right and even an exhilarating sense of, “I’m Back!” No wonder the magnetic pull over and over all these years since.

This past April brought another breakthrough, an a-ha moment…..Satori. I’ll rewind a bit to convey the bigger picture. For years, I have been living mostly by trade and have been part of a quickly growing wave across the globe of exchanging goods and services instead of money. While money may be a more convenient medium of exchange for most folks, many are now experiencing the benefits of a more personal exchange.

As time goes on, I make more and more friends who also wish to live increasingly by trade or giving freely. One of these friends stands out as a great pioneer in this movement, Colin Turner. He has authored 2 books in promotion of such. F-Day: The Second Dawn of Man is a fictional portrayal of how Iceland took the lead in a free world way of community living and giving. His second is Into The Open Economy: How Everything You Know About The World Is About To Change The description: A WORLD WITHOUT MONEY? No longer a futurist utopian dream, a money-free world of true abundance, peace and fulfilment is attainable today. Find out why we need it, how it will work, why it will work, and how we get there. This book is your bite-size guide to the Open Economy. Colin has further walked his talk by laying the groundwork for a virtual community where goods and services can be exchanged FREELY! It will be functional and ready to use this summer. In the meantime, you can register today to be part of this kinship FREEWORLDER. 

While being a part of heralding the exciting Freeworlder campaign, I was introduced to

another trade community, SIMBI. The main difference between the two is that Freeworlder is just that, where folks give freely what they have and wish to share. Simbi is people trading in a symbiotic relationship. The unit of exchange is called a simbi which is whatever each individual deems it is worth. In addition, there is the opportunity to directly trade for goods/services as opposed to paying or being paid in simbi. Occasionally you can also find people “paying it forward”. Since this group was already active, I opted to join back in February. For the most part, I’ve have excellent dealings and exchanges with individuals there and encourage you to check it out if you find this concept intriguing.

It was due to one of these bright interactions this blog post came to be. A sweet gal, Windi Braden, took me up on my “service” as I invite people to travel virtually with me via my blog. So I decided to check out her profile. No surprise we have quite a bit in common from a spiritual and idealistic standpoint. Among her various other services, Windi offered “Ask An Intuitive”. Over the past few decades I have had a number of varied “readings”. These ran the gamut of being totally off from my reality, to information I was already completely aware of, to obviously bogus, to being so general they could apply to anyone. At that point, I didn’t have much faith in “readings” for me although I knew numerous individuals could intuit things….and quite well. Since the message came to me so many times to get a reading from Windi, I finally allowed myself to go for it. At worst, it would be entertaining. When I received her written reading, tears and goosebumps (aka truthbumps) punctuated the information over and over as I resonated deeply with so many aspects of the message. It wasn’t just one powerful part but many different portions that rang intensely true.

So back to the title of this post, “I AM HOME”. Remember all the homesickness? Almost instantaneously, as I absorbed Windi’s wisdom a transformation occurred….or rather, a deep remembering. My peace intensified with the knowing, I AM HOME. Not I am in a location that is home but it is a state of BEing that I AM - akin to saying I AM LOVE. Some of you reading this are ready for that feeling to dawn upon YOU Now. No words can adequately express this realization, the Knowing, the Peace. It would be a great honor for me to help trigger even the slightest stirrings of this awareness for you now. If you care to pursue this more, feel free to email me. 

I must share with you that Windi, from a human

standpoint, knew very little about me and had only read a fraction of my blog at that time. Among other revelations, she stated that I am being called to the Hawaiian Islands and it would behoove me to look for a work trade there. I am to be refueled by Pele and immerse myself in the Mother’s waters…with the dolphins too of course! And, after that, possibly the South Pacific. I've visited Hawaii about six times. Although I experienced magnificent splendor, I thought I was complete with Hawaii/Lemuria. However, as I took in her words, this directive rang true for me. So I sent a message to about 40 of my Hawaii connections. A few warm leads are bubbling but nothing certain yet.

If you have any ideas/suggestions for me regarding finding a work exchange, I’d love to hear. I’m open to any island that would be a win win for all involved. Preferably I am interested in a place where I can walk/bike to a beach. There are numerous ways I can assist including fitness consulting, spiritual guidance, pregnant/new mama helper, childcare, hospitality and more.

Aloha and Mahalo!